Strike Force by Robert Stanek Read Free Book Online Page A

The Bardot , the Shepherd . They're gone."
       "Scott, whatever you're trying to tell me. I'm not sure I should be hearing. There's no chatter to corroborate anything you're saying."
       "What?"
       "Look, I turned up the Med channels as soon as I took your call. I'm telling you it's dead quiet. Maybe too quiet, if you ask me."
       "Since when do you follow official channels?"
       "Official, unofficial, all over the place. One big hunk of nothing."
       "Nothing?"
       "Scott," Keneke said. "I have to ask. Is your cover legend blown? It was a hell-of-a lot of work to get you--"
       "Cover legend, to hell. The Shepherd's gone--as in blown up," Scott said, his voice full of pain. "They sank the Bardot too."
       Scott heard Keneke typing furiously. "OK. I have one report here stating US Marines were injured during night training exercises but that was from yesterday. That would've been--"
       "Sometime early in the morning here. Yes, that's exactly when it started."
       "When what started?"
       Scott scratched at the stubble on face. "From what you're telling me it sounds like a cover up. This doesn't make any sense. Unknown assailants sank the Bardot III and shot down a Seahawk, then they sank the Sea Shepherd and took out two SEAL squads. Dozens of civilians, lost. Dozens of sailors and marines, lost."
       On the other end of the line, Scott heard Keneke suck at the air, followed by a quiet, "Shit, shit, shit." Then Keneke said clearly, "Does this have anything to do with--"
       "No," Scott cut in. "I mean, I don't see how. My cover legend was solid and I did not deviate. Not even Edie knew."
       "Edie?" Keneke asked.
       Scott didn't want to think about Edie right now. He quickly re-focused on the issue at hand. "The cover was solid. I was in deep for months. There were no issues."
       Keneke sighed loudly in relief. "This is ugly either way. Where are you and what happened exactly?"
       "I'm aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, part of a carrier strike group led by the USS Harry Truman. In the early morning hours, Sea Shepherd came under attack from unknown assailants," Scott said as he started to recap the events of the day. He finished by saying, "Right now, I'm outside Situation Room One."
       A long silence followed and Scott impatiently counted off the seconds in his head. Finally, Keneke said, "I'm guessing you need temporary shipboard clearance?"
       Scott took a few steps away from the door. "Get me a VIP top security clearance and the next time I see you I will treat you to the biggest Kobe steak you've ever seen in your life."
       "I've seen some pretty big steaks… I take it you're having a little command difficulty?"
       "You don't know the half of it. They're having a tough time deciding whether to throw me in the brig or sedate me up in the infirmary."
       There was a long pause, Scott heard more furious typing, and then Keneke said, "I take it Secure Station Number 5 and Printer Sit 1 are in that room?"
       Scott walked back so he could look into the operations room. He looked for a computer with a printer. Positioned near the door was a work area with several computers and a printer. One of the computers was labeled "SS-5."
       Almost as soon as he replied affirmatively, the printer came to life and started printing.
       "Your hall pass," Keneke said.
       Scott stepped away from the door. "I want your friends at Tailored Access on this. The attacks were coordinated, well-planned. There's a trail of messages out there across the Internet, probably all over the dark net."
       "I'm running Techniques Discovery over here now, Scott. Give me an hour or two."
       "Calls, emails, everything. Hell, get Treasure Map on all of this. Every device tracked to owner. Every recorded call analyzed. Every recorded email analyzed."
       "Scott, you'll know everything even if I have to dig into Dishfire and ferret out text